In the song I’m the Slime by Frank Zappa, a single chord on a keyboard is played at the exact moment Frank says the word “destined.” It is just so perfect. It occurs at exactly 1:10 in the link.
In Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin, there is a very brief “sigh” by Robert Plant before the song starts. It is difficult to hear, and I would estimate it lasts less than 0.2 seconds. I also love how you can hear very faint echos of Plant’s voice between 4:08 to 4:12 in the background. (Not sure if that was intentional or tape “bleed through.”)
In the Greatful Dead’s “Uncle John’s Band,” the group sings the chorus a capella. But there’s a one measure where they stop singing and all you can hear is a very faint tapping of the beat before they resume. I love that.
In The Simple Minds’ Don’t You Forget About Me, there’s a bass-drumish breakdown in the middle of the song that ramps up with a rolling snare/high-hat drum fill before busting back into the song. In the middle of the drum fill there’s a lonely high-hat hit that always makes my day. The breakdown starts at about 3:13 and the high-hat hit is at about 3:43
And one that’s hard to link to the examples but go listen to the tune and you’ll dig my jive. In Elvis Costello’s Brilliant Mistake there is a simple drum fill leading into each chorus that is subtly different at each instance and it absolutely makes the song for me.
I thought of another slightly open high-hat hit that grabs me every time.
Eric Clapton’s version of I Shot the Sheriff. Leading into the third chorus the is a break where the drums drop out and it’s just the Hammond ringing out. Then the drum fill comes in, a simple four beat hit, that fourth beat being the high-hat I love so much (there is a snare hit too so it’s not lone, but still). Break starts at about 2:35, high-hat at about 2:40.
Yep, I generally enjoy that. Other examples:
[ul]
[li]*Rock’n Me *by Steve Miller - right from the beginning of the track[/li][li]*Burnin’ for You *by Blue Oyster Cult - in the chorus while they’re singing “Burning for you…”[/li][/ul]
Another example I’m almost reluctant to mention: in “By Your Side” by Sade, there are some very jarring squeaks, which I somehow never noticed until someone pointed them out. Now I can’t unhear them, and they’ve ruined the mood of the song for me.
For some reason, this reminded me of “Don’t Look Back” (title track) by Boston. In the bridge, the guitarist is playing the song’s main riffs at a slower tempo with a bit less distortion. During little pauses between chord changes, he makes a scratching sound. (I presume he’s striking the strings but holding them down somehow to prevent them ringing.) It’s a very cool effect. Occurs a few times between about 2:37 to 2:52:
Palm muting. You mute the strings with the meat of the palm on your strum hand, essentially (it’s a bit of an art). That’s were you get the chick-a-chicks.
White stripes cover of “I don’t know what to do with myself” Jack has a little gasp right before the final chorus kicks in. Awesome addition to the song.
Actually, I jumped the gun a little on that technique. Palm-muting is a little difficult to master, but you use it more for soft strums, round notes, muted sounds, if you will. The chick-a-chicks are more of a lay your fingers lightly across your fret board to mute them all kind of thing - that way you can go to town on your strum hand.
